Thanks, Chair.
Thanks to my colleague for moving this, and to you for the short recess to discuss it a bit among ourselves.
I think, for most of the motion, I get what Mr. Garon is getting at here. He's just looking for some clarity on the budget cycle. I think that's reasonable in terms of a request. What is a bit of a sticking point for us is that we don't believe that the minister will be able to attend with just about 48 hours' notice. That's pretty short notice for a minister who has a busy schedule and calendar. I think everyone can appreciate that the Minister of Finance has a pretty busy schedule.
This is an amendment I'd like to propose. I would just say that where it says “no later than Wednesday, September 24”, we delete that. It would then read, “That the committee request that the minister appear to answer the committee's questions so that the committee can then carry out its work properly and effectively and fulfill its mandate”.
I think that's reasonable, and that means the minister can appear at the earliest opportunity. I think there was some discussion about next week's committee meetings being a bit different because of truth and reconciliation day. Yom Kippur begins on Wednesday, as well, if I'm not mistaken, so that's a pretty important holiday. I think it's quite reasonable to assume that the following week would be a week that, especially if we're studying Bill C-4.... There was some discussion about the possibility of using some of our committee time wisely on a piece of legislation that I think there's no contention about.
I really think that, with this small change, we could get this passed. It would ensure that my Bloc colleague gets the clarity he desires, which is really just clarity on what the budget cycle will look like moving forward, and I think that's a pretty fair ask. Although there are a lot of words in the motion, I think it's a pretty simple request, and we can get him the clarity that he's looking for in due course. That's what I would suggest. I'll leave it there for the moment and see if there's any discussion. I know my colleagues will probably want to speak to this as well.
Thanks.